"They wanted to take me from Ajax after I had a difficult first year. My manager said: 'You go to Southampton.' I said: 'Is that the only option I have?' I had confidence problems and I had a big ego also," he told BBC Sport.

"At that time, I thought of Ajax as the top. I had to go somewhere even more at the top. In my mind, I felt that to go from Ajax to Southampton, with all respect to Southampton, I would be taking a step down.

"I had patience and continued to train hard. The second year was better, the third year was even better and then Juventus came. I thought 'now we're talking'."